While the small town 3.6 kilometres from the border was once considered to be in disputed territory it was declared to be in Victoria in 1913.

Despite this, Mr Roy said he still finds himself having to cater to customers who run on South Australian time.

"Most people know my hours but I often stay open until 5.30pm just to cover some people in town," he said. Mr Roy said he moved to the town six years ago from Bega, buying the shop and five bedroom house for $100,000.

"I was working for someone else fixing ATMs," he said.

"I had never been to Serviceton before buying the place.

"It had been a shop in the past but it had been run down and was only getting about two customers a day. Now I get about 10 customers a day.

It is cool and dark in the store, which is located only a couple of hundred metres from the decommissioned Serviceton Railway Station.

The Overland train passes through a couple of times a week but no passenger has alighted onto the grand old platform since 1986.

With the exception of bread and milk, the store only stocks non perishables which are arranged on several wire shelves, a double glass fridge and two glass chest freezers - one for frozen meals and the other for ice cream.

At the front of the shop there is a table of various children's toys and board games for families or perhaps passing tourists.

Mr Roy said some of them had been on display for "quite a while". Mr Roy said most of his sales come from cigarettes and the post office.

There is a mail run but only to farms in the area, so the rest of the residents collect their post from pigeonholes at the store.

Scrawled on the wall next to the post boxes are autographs from AFL legend Tony Modra and others who featured in a 2013 West End Draught ad campaign to reclaim the town as South Australian.

Mr Roy said running the general store took up most of his time.

"I work Monday to Friday and Saturday morning as well. Then on Sunday I go to Adelaide to buy about $1000 of stock for the store," he said.

He said the rest of the time he rests.

Mr Roy said he is hopeful that the addition of Serviceton and Kaniva to the Silo Art Trail would boost his trade, which is affected by an ageing population in the region.

"People keep dying faster than they can be replaced," he said. "If we got the silo art maybe I could hire another person.

"I'd need to get a different licence to do things like milkshakes but if trade picks up it could be good."